@oerkelens I've just migrated a question to ELL; I was expecting your answer to go with it. :-(

Oh: it looks like it did :-)

:)

Always nice if something works :)

@oerkelens Yes. Have you had another ping from an old room yet?

I don't know if that will work either!

I didn't notice any other ping

There is only old room I can think of

Oh. OK. I'll do something about that when I get home. Some things don't work as well as they might.

Story of my life :P

I just read the story of my life. It doesn't end well.

My story is still being written. I don't know the ending.

@WillHunting Oh... _that_was the story! I wasn't on the boat.

Hi Mitch

How are you?

@hey The Mongols had a very peaceful religion. They weren't very good at it though.

I have a question.

go ahead!

Hi!

Woof!

@WillHunting I don't think you're going to find that here.

I am reading about Apple's new devices.

Wait.. I have something for you.

"You're in a chat room"

Was I right?

@Cerberus I hear they couldn't handle the traffic. Not a good sign, really.

@Robusto Yes.

In addition, the stream could only be viewed in Safari.

And a Chinese woman was talking through the presentation.

A faulty translation service of sorts.

I am getting a squiggly line under 'have' when I put this on MS-word. '. A little problem in question phrasing and sentence construction have been discerned'

I see mainly negative reactions to the new Iphones. And that is in a thread about those new phones, so are even the fanboys disillusioned?

@Cerberus They're advertising in their promotions their new IoT device, iReality. It's a wearable device, full body cover, with facemask. It simulates a real environment, while you are lying down, taking a shower (to clean the outside of the suit), driving the car (in your google non-drivable car). It simulates all the sensations it thinks you should be feeling at all times.

@Kabir Normally MS Word's grammar checker sucks, but it's right in this case. Try has instead.

@Kabir It should be has.

Jinx.

@Kabir Do you understand why? What is the subject of the sentence?

It mostly thinks you should be feeling uncomfortably scratchy in such a suit.

@Mitch That is lovely. Does it also move around for you?

Think for you?

Now I know... The subject is 'problem'. Is that correct?

Yes.

@Cerberus Yes, it moves all your limbs for you. Like the google car but for your body.

@Kabir The subject is a little problem in question phrasing and sentence construction.

Why is my browser "waiting" for chat.stackexchange.com?

There's an extra module for excretory functions, for longer in-suit use.

There are two subject joining with 'and'. I think, it becomes plural when you compound it with 'and'.

@Kabir No.

In question phrasing and sentence construction is subordinate to problem, so it doesn't matter for the verbal agreement.

@Kabir Nope.

@Kabir Yes. The sentence is little ungainly because of that (a little hard to understand, and also leads to the mistake)/.

@Kabir The subject is the problem.

@Cerberus is exaggerating again. When you get right down to it, the subject is the entire phrase including problem, but you can simplify and just think of the rest of the phrase as a modifier for problem.

I am not exaggerating: I am technically correct.

@Mitch It could have been said better, but it's not exceptionable.

And it helps to see the whole subject for what it is.

@Cerberus You are correct but confusing to the NNS crowd. Simplify, man.

Woo, there are a few examples pointing to a different direction.

The head of the subject is indeed problem, however, and that determines the number of the whole subject.

I will stick with 'has' for now.

For now? There is no other option...

I got it. Thank you @Cerberus.

I mean forever.

Try: "A little problem has been discerned in question phrasing and sentence construction." It's cleaner.

I will stick with nothing except Maria!

forever

I got confused when I looked 'and'.

Great.

@Robusto I agree.

@Kabir So when you see and, it is possible that you are looking at a subject with two heads, which would be plural, like old men and women. However, in that case there would have to be two noun phrases on either side of and that are on the same level, equal in status. That is not the case here: it's not a little problem in question phrasing in addition to sentence construction; instead, in question phrasing and sentence construction as a whole is subordinate to a little problem.

BTW, Jasper, that song lyric is from West Side Story, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein.

@Robusto Oh, I actually did not know that.

@Robusto How do you solve a problem like Maria?

By Leonard Bernstein, really? I didn't know that.

I have seen the film.

@Mitch I went ahead and married someone else. Problem solved.

Julie Andrews played Natalie Wood who played Maria in West Side Story. She's that good.

I have listened to West Side Story a little, I just could not recognise the lyrics.

@Cerberus Thank you for the well explained example.

Like I say, i remember every song I've ever heard. What a way to go through life.

@Kabir What, don't I get a thank-you? Pfft.

pouts

Maria von Trapp played Maria Rodriguez played Maria Osmond played Maria van Peebles.

kicks the doggy

@Kabir Cool.

Mariah Carey is having a concert here this year, hmm.

@Mitch Can't you keep your von Trapp shut for five minutes?

WTH. Bright copper kettles? I don't even know what those are!

Didn't Han Solo do the Kettle run in 6 parsecs?

@AndrewLeach - Sorry. Actually, I didn't get a ping (so I doubt the others have). I saw a room in the sidebar under where chat sometimes appears, it was the election chat and you appeared to be in it. As I had never seen anything like that on the main page, I checked it out. Again, sorry. :)

@medica That's fine. I expect freezing has killed off any ping-memory. I'll do it properly. Probably tomorrow; it will take a bit of time (but you've seen it now anyway :-)